Josef Schulz, architektura a fotografie

The study traces architect Josef Schulz’s early theoretical and practical interest in photography against the background of the dynamically developing field of architectural photography in the first half of the 1860s. The first part presents Schulz’s earliest known photographic works from the time of his studies at the Prague Polytechnic, when he became familiar with the demanding wet collodion process and tested his photographic skills in his immediate surroundings. The next two parts shed light on the broader integration of photography into architectural work in the Austrian Empire in the 1850s and 1860s, both in relation to the nascent field of monument preservation and the adoption of photography as a full-fledged and multifunctional image medium within architecture. Particular attention is paid to Vienna and to Andreas Groll, a pioneer in architectural photography in Austria. The last part focuses on Schulz’s remarkable and in many ways exceptional set of photographs of the Belvedere Royal Summer Palace in Prague from 1865, which demonstrates not only his skill as a photographer but also the fusion of architectural and photographic practice.